Utopian Design - Prepackaged Food

I recently worked on a project in Web Design class where students were challenged to invent a product that served a vital purpose in a developing country. The product must be made from a material that is sustainable and readily available in the country of use.

It was so exciting to see what kinds of products people came up with; some as mainly concepts to some that could feasibly work if given the right amount of money & support. Ideas ran the gamut - solar satchels’, t-shirts that grow with the owner, a wagon that can be easily created and is easy to transport. We were all trying to improve society, conceptually, and hopefully some of these ideas will eventually be implemented and tested.

I came up with a design for a double-layered can which heats food after the user fills the in-between with water. The idea is already used around the world in the form of pre-packaged meals (Called MRE's) that are used in the armed forces as well as food items for people in developing nations. Pictured (right) is an image of what the US service troops get to eat.

The design of these pre-packaged meals makes them easy to transport, low cost, and useful in many avenues of food consumption. The design follows the idea of "utopian design" putting consumer situation & need at the forefront of design production.

Image Credit: http://modernsurvivalonline.com/homemade-mre/

Color Transforms

When choosing color for a product, designers select based on many conditions. Some choices are based on natural elements while others are chosen based on a specific meaning that adds to the product.

While it is possible to shape the way a design is perceived based on the various color hues that are combined, many designers rely on intuition and popular palettes. In Albers’ “Interaction of Color”, the methodology behind color theory is examined in a science based way. Albers argues that past color theorists suggested meanings for colors, and well, I agree, theorists can sometimes be partisan. He goes on to explain that perception of color doesn't deal with emotion or mood, rather with light and the way individuals' eyes' react to it.

My favorite scarf comes from the GAP clothes design company—it’s 84% acrylic and 16% wool. It sits on my neck and keeps me warm behind it’s cream, light gray, dark gray, and accent yellow knit self. Since the designers at GAP design with popular fashion in mind, they choose colors which reflect what people are wearing in the world and are not necessarily concerned, with scientific reasoning behind their choices. I personally love the combination of yellow and gray which makes up my favorite scarf. No two people see color in the same way, so when others look at my scarf they may see shades of yellow and gray which are displeasing to them; in fact, some people may even see lime green and black, depending on how the light receptors in their eyes are shaped.

All in all, color theory has shifted from the first accounts explaining color in terms of feeling and mood to a scientific based logic which goes into depth about eye structure and effect of light.

Consistency and the Airport | Dangerous Design

An airport is a point of connection; between bus and plane, between plane and train, between car and shuttle. Often orchestrating all of these connections are designed signs which try to precisely describe direction, location, guidelines, etc.

I am currently sitting at the Sacramento International Airport waiting for my flight to Albuquerque, and it became apparent that the way-finding system of SMF would be the theme

of my next blog.

Once off the freeway, the friend who was driving noticed that the airline I was flying with was listed on a large red sign next to a blue sign, encouraging her to drive in the right lane. Approximately 10 seconds later, the red sign had switched places with the blue sign now confusing us into changing lanes. Another 10 seconds later and the signs had yet again switched places, finally directing us to the appropriate area.

This confusion of signs could have caused an accident while we were driving. The last thing a driver want's to be responsible for doing is deciphering a complicated signage system that confuses rather than explains.

It isn't enough for informational signage to be in a readable font or to have a color that differentiates it from it's background. It must be accurately placed in the line of sight as well as correct position in order for people driving between 20-30mph to understand in a very short amount of time.

I guess I'm trying to say that there is good signage and there is bad signage. Way-finding systems should be thought out with care and must be just as consciously designed as the buildings that house them.

Texture & Fashion

I was walking around in Walker Hall this morning and noticed these beautiful hand drawings from a fashion design class. I especially admired several drawings done by a girl who had paid special attention to detail in her near photo-realistic renderings. Drawing classes teach people how to look at objects as form in light and dark shades. One aspect to hand drawing that is particularly difficult to master is mimicking texture.

The contemporary fashions that adorned the hallway explained a lot about the intention of the designers because of their use of texture. The photo-realistic ones that I mentioned not only showed the texture of the garments [i.e. the fabrics & furs], but also expressed movement & flow in the way they sat on the models bodies.

Designers must master the skill of representing their ideas on paper effectively. If a designer cannot draw or mock-up a design idea it is to their detriment; designers should practice and perfect texture replication, visual hierarchy, line thickness, etc. Texture is especially important to express because it corresponds with the first aesthetic seen by potential clients. Clients won’t be able to envision what the designer can unless the designer can produce an accurate example.

Canon PowerShot S95

Canon creates photography equipment that becomes increasingly user-friendly with each design-iteration. The PowerShot S95, released in late August of 2010, flaunts many technical and aesthetic implementations that make it a very precisely designed ergonomic experience.

Safety is an important factor for the Canon S95. The camera has two options for placement of a safety strap, one on the top right and one of the bottom left. The strap is extra thick – making it hard to compromise the camera’s safety. When the camera isn’t being used, it is stored in a padded Lowepro soft-shell carrying case. The case is comparable to ones used to protect laptops and other expensive electronic devices.

As a high-end point-and-shoot camera, all of its interior specifications are housed in a compact and comfortable body. It is a simple rectangle with no extras or vestigial obstructions allowing it to sit in the hand easily and safely. It’s shell is made from a durable composite material that deals well with rugged conditions. The flash pops up on the top left side and then sets back down inside its streamlined niche. In the same way as the flash has its niche, so does the top-camera zoom function & the top mode-dial. With a 3" screen, anybody from child to elderly can operate this camera with ease while capturing all 10 mega pixels worth of image.

While interacting with the S95, users find the technology is intuitive to learn and relatively easy to teach ones self. Different modes are explained in concise prose and easily adjusted with minimal layers or steps to go through. The same experience occurs when connecting the camera to a computer – usability is at the forefront. It interacts with the computer to find a program to download its images into, whether it is a Mac or a PC, the camera has been programmed to interface over a broad range of computer platforms in 16 different languages.

The camera performs with quick response to adjustments. Whether manually changing the settings or executing a staged photograph, the camera is able to accommodate with lightning speed. It includes the option to zoom either automatically or manually with the built in 4x zoom. The incredible RAW or JPG images load to a computer or external hard drive in second; this is the caliber of a Canon digital camera. Not only are the images of the highest quality, so too is the video recording technology. This camera can record up to 5 hours of HD video with Stereo sound at 720p.

Aesthetically speaking, the camera is a piece of beautifully planned design. The sleek black body of the camera compliments its high quality performance. The black color is even throughout and reminiscent of the analog predecessors to the contemporary digital camera. This relationship to the past is also present in the ability to switch between automatic and manual zooming. This piece of design has no harsh angles making it easy and comfortable to hold and to look at.

This camera is beautiful, functional, easy to learn, easily adapted to many platforms and suitable for anyone.

Ø Å Æ

Last summer right after my car broke, I started taking a class about typography. Letterforms and kerning and leading, oh my! I had never in my entire life thought about type-faces in such a complex way. I had never even considered that someone spent months if not years creating fonts as a career.

What is so important about different fonts? Many people take for granted that before computers had thousands of different vector based fonts to choose from, printers [yes the human kind] used varying sized metal letters to manually create sentences which were then stamped onto paper. This process of "typing" took skilled type-setters [yes people again - with their hands] a lot of time to set.

I recently downloaded some new fonts from dafont.com, a website full of type-faces which are free to download and use for personal use. One font I particularly like (above) is called "Wired". It is a simple sans serif font which has been transformed into a sans serif wired font. It's as if the font was sculpted from barbed wires.

Although the font is new and interesting, it comes with certain downfalls, for example, the character choices are very limited. It hinders me from using some of my favorite letters like æ, å, and ø, and makes it impossible to write anything that has any—special grammar markings.

Word & Image

In the exhibition setting the relationship between words & images is extremely important for relaying information. My DES 185 partner and I are designing an exhibition about breakfast foods from around the world. We have been working on rendering what the interior of the space will look like, and we have been trying to pay special attention to where the written information should go, in order to best tell the story we are trying to tell.

You can see in my rendering (left) I created a white information banner that is hung on the right wall of the area in our exhibition exhibiting Swedish breakfast traditions. This info-graphic will have enough information to cater to those who simply glance and walk by and a bit more in depth for those who wish to stand and read on.

If there were no words to go along with the images and artifacts within our exhibition, it would be exponentially harder to comprehend the context from which they come. The words, interlaced with the images create an understandable staged environment as a point of learning. Visitors can choose to spend more time to read and examine images more closely to understand at a higher level, but all who come through the exhibition should connect what they see with what they read.

Granatæble

Language & visual representation have a very close relationship with one another. In acquiring a language, one must use visual cues to understand the spoken representation of the thing cued. When learning the Danish word "granatæble" - one should be looking at this image (right) for the memorization of the visual cue.

Similarly with design - and more specifically communication design or visual communication, the words that follow the images should have a similar relationship. Words should be carefully chosen for their literal meaning, for the way they stand alone on the page, and for the meaning they have when coupled with a graphic.

Brian Fies does a superb job of incorporating both words and images in a harmonious balance within his comics. It takes much restraint and sculpting to create a piece of literature that can compliment and accentuate the images which it supports. In "Mom's Cancer", Fies often purposely creates a kind of tension between the images of his ever-fading mother and a humorous text that tries to lighten the experience the reader has. He challenges the reader to feel uneasy about the whole graphic novel because it is about a topic - his mother's dying battle with cancer - which is in itself and uneasy topic.

Narrative Environments

I have been researching graduate programs in Design lately and have come to understand some distinctions between programs. There are those programs which are geared towards applied practice & taught design skills and there are those which implore participants to explore, research and test skills on their own.
I am particularly interested in the Design Master of Arts program at the University of California, Berkeley. This program asks applicants to write a proposal about a project that will conclude in both an exhibition of work and a written thesis.
Having some experience in both environmental design and graphic design, I am currently in the process of exploring some ideas for a proposal.
As a part of Design 185, Exhibition Design, I am learning about the impact that the narrative of an environment can have on patrons to that environment. Where people look, what people touch, hierarchy of text, image, decoration and information. All of these things must be accounted for and carefully planned.
A narrative environment tells a story, it is the 3-dimensionalization of the narrative of a book or idea in an interior space. This particular kind of design interests me because it is so versatile. Museums, Galleries, stores, display cases, trade-show booths, public information exhibits, graphic design, marketing, interior architecture, interior design, all of these use the resources that an exhibition designer, or more specifically, someone who is interested in narrating an environment, have.

Repetition

I just bought a new camera about two weeks ago. It's a Canon PowerShot S95 and it is probably the highest quality camera I have ever owned.

Although I don't have a photography class, I have been bringing my camera around with me and snapping photos of things I see that interest me.

The cases full of wrapping paper (left) caught my attention because of the pattern they made. Partially random & partially the same (maybe that is where the Gestalt principles are kicking in. I really wanted the wrapping paper to make a pattern, so in photographing it, I have documented the Gestalt thinking process.

Remembering back to my high school photography class has also been fun. Trying to remember all the rules my old photography teacher taught us about; rule of thirds, texture, framing, composition, etc. All things I remember learning about then, but not really fully comprehending until now.

This picture of a tree trunk (right) had a very interesting texture on its main trunk, after taking time to look at it, I decided to document it. This tree isn't designed in any way (unless the gardeners who prune it count?), but I designed this picture, borrowing the texture/ pattern from the tree and using my representation of it in digital form for whatever I may choose.

Interaction of Content & Form in OBJECTIFIED

Although I couldn't make it to our showing of Objectified, I have seen this documentary several times before. In the film, industrial designers and product designers explain how they perform the design process and give brief overviews of their designs. These include fairly basic everyday items which people take for granted, but in the film, each designer brings the viewer to the more complex conclusion that almost every thing in our everyday discourse is designed.

One particular item that especially makes an impact in the film is the re-design of the fruit/ vegetable peeler. The design group who re-made the peeler went through many iterations of the design; including different styles of handle, materials, proto-types, etc.

A common theme throughout the film is the notion that designers should always and are always asking questions, for example "why is it like that?". This big question is at the core of why innovative designers and design firms are able to create such powerful yet subtle modifications to items that consumers already use. To be able to recognize a market, or a product that isn't performing to a high enough standard, then to completely re-think that product to increase use and change how people live.

The film encourages people to think more often about everything they come in contact with on a daily basis, and how the design of these objects affect how we live our lives.

On Brand

I mentioned before that I worked at the Crocker Art Museum and with their recent renovation & expansion, they have re-invigorated their website as well. View it here. It's transformation is marked by several things, 1. new logo, 2. a beautifully designed header that is consistent throughout the whole site and 3. abounding interactivity. Arguably the thing most important to a company or entity is the way in which it is branded i.e. the logo, standard look & feel to all collateral pieces, the streamlined-ness to everything aesthetic about themselves.

The Crocker Art Museum has done a good job of "re-branding" - they have scrapped their busy logo for a more contemporary logotype. Their new identity is posted everywhere & was used as much as possible on all printed collateral at the opening day events & the "neo-crocker art party".

When an entity changes their identity too many times, the general public becomes increasingly confused and potentially skeptical of said entity. Consistency is the best thing a group can strive for. If Lady Gaga had changed her name 3-4 times she may never have been as successful as she became.

Comparison & Contrast

Lately, I've been really inspired by the music of Icelandic artist Jonsi. His music incorporates stringed instruments, flutes, drums, pianos and his incredibly broad vocal range. Jonsi is iconic for his soothing falsetto range belting out both English and Icelandic lyrics. What is especially impressive are the music videos that correspond to some of his newest works entitled "Go Do" & "Animal Arithmetic". Knowing about other Icelandic artists has lead me to question if there is a particular style or theme that Icelandic music videos share, and if so, what makes it so.

Image credit: http://skyactivity.com/2009/12/07/jonsi-solo-album-details/.

The tightly cropped scenes and brightly distorted images are reminiscent of another Icelandic music group, Hjaltalín. This group also incorporates interesting instruments into their folk-acoustic style music like the bassoon, cello and others. Interesting similarities are also found in both groups choices for setting—usually somewhere in nature/ outdoors.

The artists who created these films took extreme care in the craft, paying special attention to the juxtaposition of image and sound at any given point in the song. In the case of the first film "Go Do", there is a story both told in the lyrics and expressed through the visual aid of the film. With feathers and different types of bondage, the film expressed the need to escape or break from ones chains, in this film as both a metaphor and a reality.

It's important to remember that people in Iceland are raised differently than people in the US, and social norms are different. Aesthetics start being a part of the education in elementary school with courses in traditional Icelandic knitting and embroidery and so on. With Iceland being so small, Icelanders feel an intense connection to their land, and in turn, use it and worship it.

Design as Conversations

Last December the COP15 Convention (climate change conference) created quite a stir in the little capital city of Copenhagen in Denmark. Representatives from all over the world came to attend and also to protest the event. What was extremely apparent from living in Copenhagen was that this particular event was thought out to every little detail.

Special temporary structures were erected all over the city designed to be stacked and layered together to house information and experiences for all the Conventions visitors. It was obvious that wherever you visited around the city, there was a standard format giving the entire installation a more intensified presence. Everything from energy-saving solutions to sustainable architecture to global warming were addressed. Each day, there were lectures, public art installations, and many other experiences that had been systematically designed in a streamlined way to make this convention send a message.

This image shows the temporary modules with their green-light exteriors in the night sky in Copenhagen's Rådhusplads (Town Hall Center). Concerts and other events were happening at the same time, creating a dialogue between many different types of people and different pieces of knowledge.

The conversation that the City opened up for the people was one about information, facts, and experiences that enact real life. The conversation that the people got involved with became something else. Activism, public expressions of art & politics, protesting; many people were encouraged to speak their mind and participate in an exciting

IKEA

I bought a lamp at IKEA about 3 weeks ago, which I am only now installing in my apartments dining area. Here is a picture of it. I love that when I buy a product from IKEA, I can put it together myself - letting me take part in the creation of the aesthetic of my apartment.

Inspiration from Without

I used to be an art handler at the Crocker Art Museum while they were undergoing renovations and many pieces of artwork needed to be moved, stored and cared for. Since I was a part of the staff there, I was invited to go to the museum's "Friends & Family Preview Day" last Thursday. It was amazing to see the progress that had occurred in the time that I had come back to Davis and not been able to work at the Museum. While I was perusing the halls with an old co-worker, we stopped by the Wayne Thiebaud exhibit and looked around.

Much of what Thiebaud paints is literal—pie, cake, streets, buildings, people, etc. The abstraction in his work is not derived from emotion, rather he is inspired by tangible, often very repetitive things. For example, Cakes, 1963 is an example of the type of staging in many of Thiebauds artworks.

I love Thiebaud's paintings as lightly whimsical colorful pieces, produced with a specialty-impasto technique that is iconic of himself. His works are simple enough to comprehend at a glance, but also have a depth and detail to them which can be critically scrutinized.

As in Cakes, and many of his paintings (to varying degrees) the sense of whimsy is carried throughout; from the decoration on the top of the cakes, to the shapes and color iterations in the shadows & scene. The painting (below) shows some more of the colorful shadows Thiebaud produces in his works.

Not knowing much about Thiebaud sparked an afternoon of research for me. He has lived in California for much of his life—teaching at Sacramento State University & University of California, Davis (where he still, on occasion, lectures). His work is recognized as part of the 'Pop Movement', world-wide and I am excited to go back to the Crocker every chance I get to be inspired by his artworks.

Stone Soup

Last week in my Introduction to Design class, we arranged into our small groups and explored the notion of a Stone Soup for Designers.

Stone Soup, although a children's story, can also be seen as a learned process for working with others.

My group brought together supplies; a box, paper, sparkly glue, old tubes, and bassoon reeds to name just a few. We independently looked through what we had and did some sketching, then finally came together and collaborated about what we were going to create.

As we started, each of us explained our initial ideas and how we thought we could best approach the project. As more and more ideas came out in the open, the more excited and creative everybody became. It was interesting to observe the creative process in stages during the Stone Soup exercise. There was a beginning point, where we thought a lot about what materials we had, and what kinds of things we could do with those materials. There was also a definite climax to our creativity—sometime after we had decided on the subject matter and some of the tasks that needed to be accomplished.

What started as a "flower-decorated table" turned into a colorful bus (pictured above) with differently patterned hub-caps and little dancing men in each window. There is even landscaping and a pool on the roof. Making sure not to trample over anyone's ideas, we each listened and spoke and worked together and created this interesting, imaginative, designed thing which brought us together and taught us a little something about being on a team.

Photographer: Michelle Huey.

Hello Internet, Who Are You Today?

I lived in Copenhagen, Denmark last year as an exchange student at the University of Copenhagen and DIS (Denmarks Institute for Study Abroad). One of the classes I took was a digital design course focusing on simple web page construction and linking techniques. My professor was a graduate of Denmark’s Design School and an accomplished digital media professional. She took us on a field study to a digital theatre where we suited up in outfits with sensors and got inside of a white box room. We were digitally transported to an environment where we could draw on the walls and move objects around ourselves.

Learn more about it here.

She was a real advocate for awareness in digital media and the advancement of knowledge. After working in the digital field for most of her career, she was able to bring many interesting points of interest to lectures and to challenge our conceptions of web architecture.

She introduced me to several websites (1, 2, 3) and helped me to understand websites and critically analyze how information is displayed on a web page.

After arriving back in the United States, I have decided that web design is an important component of the graphic design world and that I must know more about it. This quarter I am taking the intro course to web design which is teaching me that not only is there an enormous wealth of knowledge needed to be a web designer, but that the guidelines and principles that web designers follow change at an almost daily rate.

Design in My Hands

It is easy to go through life without realizing that all things man-made are designed. The extent to which these objects are carefully crafted and thought through is not always similar, but none-the-less, they were designed by their creator.

During symphony rehearsal last Thursday, I had a long break between two pieces where I found myself sitting and noting different architectural features in the music building and peoples expressions as they performed. Scanning around my eyes landed on the bassoon that was sitting in my lap. Although I know exactly what my bassoon looks like, I had never really taken the time to appreciate it's long tradition of crafted technique. I never cared about the way the upper joint bulges elegantly without any flaws or the way that the dark polished maple wood juxtaposes against the shiny polished silver.

It's not just the instrument that expresses years of thoughtful creation; even the small 2.5" long reeds (or mouth-pieces) are works of elaborate design in themselves. Made from dried cane, bassoon reed-makers spend hours,

days, even months putting together just one single reed. They use machines to notch, cut, wet, dry, etc. The cane is wrapped with twine in a specific pattern passed down through generations, then painted with urethane or clear nail polish, finally only able to be tested out!

After all this preparation, a reed is hardly complete, now it is the performers job to take the role of the designer and shape the reed with knives and sanding equipment. Some days the reed will need to be shaped several times, and some days it will be fine with no tune-ups needed.

I Just Wanted to Decorate

The built world started to fascinate me during preschool—before I really knew much about the built world at all. I remember as a young boy being particularly enthralled with the wooden play structure at Bev Bos' - the preschool where I learned about ceramics and wearing dresses and exploring my imagination. It was gargantuan to me, reaching up into the sky amongst the old trees that shaded the play area and I was so happy to be inside of this building exploring the different levels and admiring how it was almost a large scale dollhouse. In retrospect I think what I especially wanted to do with the rooms was to decorate them and plan functions for them; at the time, all I could do was look and imagine.

My love for buildings and interior spaces was fueled again in elementary school when I discovered the Home & Garden Network on television. This channel on t.v. let me sit back and take a lightning fast tour through building after building, craft after wonderful craft. The hosts of different shows become superstars of design to me; having the money, time and means to do the kinds of projects that I dreamed of doing. At the library, I started to visit the architecture & design section, checking out books with blue-prints, artistic craft ideas and lot's of pretty colors.

I havn't thought about that building at Bev Bos' Preschool in quite some time, but I know that it is probably one of my fondest memories of a designed object. If my younger self were with me now, I'm sure he would be in awe of the projects that I get to do in Exhibition Design.